Mango lassi sounded like a great proposition so I bought a can of Kesar Mango Pulp the other day.

What do I know about the mango? You get fat when you eat too many. They are high in sugars and they are a great source of Vitamin C. It only followed that the nutrition label beckoned to me and look what I found: no fat, no sugar, no Vitamin C.

But look at the last line. It says Fat 9. But! But! What happened to no fat?**

A closer look at the ingredients showed that it has been sweetened with Sugar Syrup. I guess there is no sugar in that either, just like there are no sugars in mango.

Who writes these nutrition labels? Who checks them for accuracy? Is it something that is just slapped on a food product so that it makes it past the FDA?

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comments:

Hi Manisha! The footer of the nutrition label is a standard in most products which tells how many calories are present in 1 gram of fat/protein/carbs.Btw, look at the sodium - 23% in one serving.... omg!

Diana, you are so right! It is part of the standard 'footer' and I did not recognize it without all the other leading stuff about average daily calories. Thanks so much for pointing it out! A total Duh moment for me. Mangoes are said to have a minor amount of fat but I assume it's the carbs that affect the waistline. I wonder if the sodium comes from the citric acid. And then I wonder why that would be accurate if almost everything else on that label is not! :-D

RV, what other products do they make / distribute?

Musy, no Vitamin A in these mangoes either. Expiry dates? In Chicago, I had pointed out to the grocer that the Orange Delight cookies on his shelf had expired 2 years ago. He grunted and tossed the packets right back into the shelf!

LOL. I have long ago stopped checking nutrition labels of Indian packaged goods. For all the above reasons. I think a lot of them probably make it up as they go along. I do check for expiry dates though and a grocer with a good turnover (and we have a lot of Indian grocers in DFW) rarely has an expired product.

Rule of thumb here...read the nutrition labels on your indian grocerries only if u want to but don't accept it to be accurate.....buy the grocerries from the shop where u see lot of customers(just an idea that they keep getting new stuff on routine basis, if lots of customers do grocerries there)....once i got cart full of dry grocerries & most of that I threw because when I opened the packs at home many of the dals had holes in it and even Atta bag had white worms in it.Oh yes !!.....without my hubby dear consent I drove back 30 miles to get my money back from him.

I have stopped trusting anything about Indian stores except the raw vegetables which I believe come from some farms which might not be even washing them with clean water.

I have found fungus in yogurt containers in the past, I have seen fungus on mithais and rotten vegetables. I just buy beans, daals these days from Indian stores just to keep myself being frustrated.

There is no authority in India to look over these matters and it sucks. Few years ago a doctor wrote in one of the leading Marathi newspaper that if people knew how they make sabudana they would stop eating it. But that doctor did not mention what it was and where did he get the info. For me its really hard to trust the non-homemade food in India.

well, I'm surprised that these products get through - arent US regulations very stringent about these things?

Its also the type of Indian products which are exported which may be a problem - there is some amount of choice now available in India, you can choose to pick up a product made by a leading manufacturer or the same product by a local manufacturer. Makes a lot of difference.

I bought Swad mango pulp last week and today i opened the can to find mold on all the sides of the canI am 7 weeks pregnant and have been having tummy upsets the last couple of days - which i can now trace to thisPutting up such products for sale is an unpardonable offence. I certainly hope that these come under stringent FDA vigil